Terje Håkonsen

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Terje Håkonsen (born October 11, 1974 in Vinje, Norway) is a Norwegian snowboarder. Håkonsen is widely considered one of the most influential snowboarders of all time and was one of the sport's early icons.

Håkonsen dominated freestyle snowboarding in the 1990s winning the ISF World Championships in half-pipe three times in a row, in 1993, 1995 and 1997. He has also won 5 European championships in half-pipe (1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1997), the U.S. Open in half-pipe 3 times (1992, 1993, 1995), and the Mt. Baker Banked Slalom 6 times (1995, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2004).

He created the Haakon Flip.^[1]

He starred in the documentary First Descent, along with four other exceptional snowboarders, including Shaun White.

[edit] Olympics Boycott and formation of Arctic Challenge

When Snowboard halfpipe was introduced as an Olympic event in the 1998 Winter Olympics, Håkonsen boycotted the qualification. Håkonsen, and many other snowboarders, were displeased with the IOC, and particularly the fact that the IOC selected FIS to handle the qualification instead of the snowboarders' own federation, ISF.

Håkonsen, together with Daniel Franck, started The Arctic Challenge as a snowboard event where the riders would be in focus. The Arctic Challenge was first arranged in 2000 and has been arranged in different places in Norway annually since.